Originally posted 2008
January 7, 2008: Action Congress (AC) has said President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua-led administration goofed by its recent public statement that it would not probe former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s eight years of waste and maladministration.
In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the statement was in bad taste, since several former state governors are currently facing trials over their actions while in office.
“This administration has simply said, through the no-protestation, that it is okay to investigate alleged corruption and abuse of office at the state level, as long as the federal government is left untouched, for whatever reason,” AC said.
It said the statement must have been made without being well thought through, since it implies that certain categories of people are either above the laws of the land or could be exempted from probe as payback for the political patronage they dispensed while in office.
AC said the statement also means that the National Assembly, which is imbued with oversight functions, could then close shop and send its members home, since some people have been elevated to a status where their actions in government couldn’t be investigated.
“It means that if the National Assembly, in performing its oversight functions, stumbles on fraud in any area or sector, it should simply shut up!” the party added.
AC said there are many actions of the Obasanjo Administration that call for a comprehensive probe, irrespective of what the Yar’Adua government thinks. “A government that pumped over N300 billion into road rehabilitation and construction, even when the same roads are not motorable or are now death traps, definitely deserves to be investigated.
“A government that spent trillions of naira on the power sector, after which the nation has now been plunged into unprecedented darkness, should definitely be probed. “An administration that gave out hundreds of public enterprises to cronies in the name of privatization has only succeeded in selling the commonwealth at a mere pittance and should be questioned. A government that poured millions of naira and dollars into repairing the nation’s four refineries, none of which is presently functioning, has a question or two to answer in the spirit of fairness and probity.
“A sitting president, who acquired huge shares in companies that later got massive government patronage, like Transcorp, cannot be said to be above board, hence should be subjected to the dictates of the law on such issues,” the party said.
AC said the list it has revealed constitutes only a tip of the iceberg and a part of the reasons why President Obasanjo, who doubled as Nigeria’s oil Minister for 8 years, should be investigated.
It said, however, that whatever the decision of the Administration on the issue, the Obasanjo government could not escape the judgment and probe of history, which is the ultimate.”In own good time, the truth about the years of locust under President Obasanjo, a self-acclaimed anti-corruption fighter and Saint, will come to the open. Then, no Administration, no matter its motives, will be able to stop it!” the party said.
